The Day the War Stopped
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- čas přidán 9. 07. 2024
- In Louisiana on a June day in 1863, along the Mississippi River about 35 miles north from Baton Rouge, a funeral took place in the Masonic section of a church cemetery in St. Francisville. Men in uniforms gathered with heads bowed and hats in hands to pay respects to a fallen comrade. Though the scene was tragically all too common, the circumstances were quite extraordinary. Here's the story.
"Life on the Civil War Research Trail" is hosted by Ronald S. Coddington, Editor and Publisher of Military Images magazine. Learn more about our mission to showcase, interpret and preserve Civil War portrait photography at militaryimagesmagazine.com and shopmilitaryimages.com.
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Image: Ronald S. Coddington Collection
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Awesome! I was there just a couple years ago. Me and my son drove out from Ohio to Nashville and began a week long tour of the western theatre of the civil war. We hit everything. At our motel in Vicksburg I was approached by a very friendly elderly man who was from Louisiana. I told him what we were doing and that our next stop was Port Hudson, on our way to New Orleans. He implored us to stop at St. Francisville and told us a short version of this whole story, which we had not heard about at all before. We are so grateful to have run into that nice man on chance. St. Francisville is absolutely gorgeous. Enchanting. And that cemetary and that church really blew our minds. There are ancient live oak trees all over the place. It rivals, easily, anything you'd find in Charleston or Savannah. We stood right there at John E. Hart's grave site and took it all in. We had precious little time to spend there and were sorry to have to get moving. If you're ever down around there it is a really great place to stop and see. i highly recommend it.
This event is re-enacted on the second Saturday of each year by the Freemasons of Louisiana and New York. Each year, the members of the Lodge to which Captain Hart belonged in Schenectady NY and the members of Feliciana Lodge # 31 in St Francisville, walk together again in brotherhood to remember their fallen Brother. Masons from all over the country and all history loving Americans can appreciate this moving and solemn reminder of the ties that bind our country together even in the midst of turmoil and strife.
So Mote it Be, dear Brother.
Thank you for this and all you great work!
Another great story of the Civil War and an even greater heart touching moment of so many such moments. Thank you.
I’m from Louisiana and visit St. Francisville about twice a year. Once a year in June St. Francisville re-enacts this and it called “The Day the War Stopped”
Great story!!
Excellent
A heartwarming story, thank you.
Thanks again, Ron. Your stories never fail to entertain and educate. A touching story, indeed. How poignant, the phrase...." Though an enemy in war, still a brother."
Wonderful story. Thank you
This brought tears to my eyes. Thank you so much.
What great story and very emotional.
Cool story
Another great story, Ron. We are all brothers here in the USA, despite our differences. So was it back then.
I looked up the church in St. Francisville, what a lovely, restful place.
WOW, what a story. That is a really good one. Thanks for preserving it.
Extraordinary story. Thank you. I know I’m sounding like a broken record in my occasional comments, but I’ll repeat what has been dawning on me once again: the American Civil War was and is like no other war in human history. Categorically different. And it is the most difficult and important thing, with its successful conclusion, that humankind has ever done.
Remittent Fever (as I understand it) was pretty commonly caused by a chronic bacterial infection of the interior lining of the heart. A chronic disease of this sort would certainly cause a person to feel despair at always feeling sick and make them feel that their life was not worth living. I'm sure this was especially true for people prone to depression (for which they also had no effective treatments in those days). Obviously a talented Naval officer who must have been well liked by his officers and men to be afforded such burial efforts and honors. Life is hard and was ever so much harder in those days before the advent of modern treatments for what is today, curable or at least, treatable diseases. Although many of us look back at those dramatic times with a feeling of nostalgia, we are obligated to feel gratitude that we have lived our lives in more modern times.
This story, for me anyway, is illustrative of the moral and gentlemanly behavior that was pervasive in America at the time. If the officers and men of the Albatross would have needed a burial plot in a enemy town, they simply would have taken one, but instead they asked permission first and through common decency, they were granted permission without anyone's rights being violated. I'm sure the same act would have played out if the crew approached the Catholic priest in charge of his cemetery as it would if they approached a Baptist minister for a deceased member of this or that faith. Would this happen anywhere in the world today?
That’s Masonic bond reminds me of after Gen. Louis Armistead was mortally wounded at the Angle and Gettysburg after crossing the union line, and union Captain Brigham, a fellow Mason consoled him.
Suspension of war never seems to ever last very long.
The whole idea of the Masonic connection, is so convoluted and hypocritical.
The idea that if you are a "Mason" you are somehow exhalted, is a grotesque message, being suggested to society for all too long. The suspension of confeds and feds from being enemies, based on belonging to a boys club, is nauseating. Sorry Ron, the Masonic order infuriates me. As I say, convoluted. We are brothers in this fashion, but not in this fashion, give me a break!